Here is the latest edition of “10 things you may not know” — about Colorado State (6-6, 4-3 Mountain West) vs. visiting Air Force (2-9, 0-7). Kickoff is at noon. No TV but live streaming via espn3.com.

As always, special thanks to the schools’ sports information departments for supplying a large share of the content.

1. Colorado State has lost each of the past seven meetings with Air Force, by an average score of 40-21. But prior to that current drought, CSU had won four of the previous five against the Falcons, and 11 of 14.

2. CSU already has its most wins in a season (six) since going 7-6 in 2008. That’s also the year of the Rams’ last bowl appearance — a 40-35 win over Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl — and was the first season for CSU coach Steve Fairchild. Things appeared rosy, with the program’s first winning season in five years. But the Rams would go 3-9 in each of Fairchild’s subsequent three seasons and he was fired following the 2011 season.

3. Air Force leads the series 31-19-1, including 20-13 when a conference game. The Falcons have a 13-8 advantage in games played at Fort Collins. For Air Force, the meetings with CSU are tied with Wyoming for the longest series in Falcons history. Air Force has left with a victory after its previous three trips to Fort Collins.

2. Kugler played at UTEP (1985-88 as an offensive lineman) and, according to research conducted by the school, he is one of only 12 active Division I coaches at their alma mater. Some of the notables include Troy Calhoun (Air Force), Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern), Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State), David Shaw (Stanford) and Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech).

BOULDER — If Colorado can ever reschedule its 12th game, it likely will need help from the NCAA, a school athletic department official said Tuesday.

Jim Senter, associate athletic director in charge of football, said the biggest problem is teams already have 12 games on their schedule. Fresno State, which had its Sept. 14 game at Colorado cancelled by the flood, has a similar problem.

“More than likely whoever we get to play, we’ll likely have to petition the NCAA to have a 13th game (for the other team),” Senter said. “Basically, the NCAA understands Colorado is having a hardship, Fresno State’s having a hardship and they need to have 12 games.”

Athletic director Rick George was in Dallas attending the Division IA Athletic Directors Association meetings and has surely talked to nearly every AD in the hotel.

Brett Smith against Colorado State. University of Wyoming Photo Service

My major story on Wyoming’s Brett Smith, at this point the top quarterback in the region, is written and will run in the paper at some point.

I didn’t have room to get into this in the story, but the fact that he’s from Salem, Oregon, the state capital in the mid-Willamette Valley, begs the question: Why didn’t Smith go to Oregon or Oregon State?

He’s forthright in the answer.

“Oregon State said I was a little too small,” he told me in Laramie on Aug. 7. “Oregon, I didn’t hear from. I called them quite a bit, but I didn’t hear from them. So the in-state schools said I wasn’t talented enough to play there, or at least that’s the impression I got. This was the team that offered and believed in me.” Read more…

LAS VEGAS – Don’t count Air Force coach Troy Calhoun a fan of the Mountain West’s new conference structure or the format of the coming college football playoff system.

He’s not.

First up: The Mountain West’s new two-division format, in its first year now that the conference has grown to 12 teams.

“It’s set up that way,” Calhoun said. “It’s been dictated, that’s the way it’s going to be done. You get to play football, that part you do get to do. You get the chance to play some football.

“I think there’s something to it when you play everybody. I really do. I think you build more cohesion amongst your league and I think you build stronger rivalries in a respectful way when you play everybody every year.”

I hope Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn likes coaching searches more than reporters do. He’ll have a tough time convincing a “name” coach to take over this program. Whoever takes on the job of righting this nosediving program, he’ll inherit a school-record seven straight losing seasons, the worst defense in school history and a stable full of quarterbacks who couldn’t take charge of the starting role.

I’ll go back to what I told Bohn two years ago before he hired Jon Embree whom he fired Sunday after a two-year mark of 4-21. He’ll never get a big-name coach. He shouldn’t even bother wasting a call to someone like LSU’s Les Miles. I can’t imagine how much Miles, albeit a former Colorado assistant, laughed when he heard Bohn was interested.

My Monday commentary is on coach John Wristen and the CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves, the nation’s top-ranked Division II team heading into the final week of the regular season. It’s in the paper and here. I haven’t been able to see the ThunderWolves in person yet this season, but I’ve made several trips to Pueblo to write features on the program during its amazing progress since beginning play in 2008. I’ve always enjoyed myself on those excursions, and not only because any trip that includes a Slopper burger, Pueblo’s delicacy, is a good trip.

Here’s something I didn’t get in the Monday piece: I also asked Wristen about the situation at Colorado, where he was a graduate assistant in 1990-91 and the tight ends coach on Gary Barnett’s staff from 1999-2005. For the final four seasons, Jon Embree also was on the Buffaloes’ staff, so Wristen knows CU’s second-year head coach.

Judging from responses, direct and indirect, it was clear to me that many believed after reading the first part of the piece that I was unconditionally supporting Christensen and didn’t read on. Rather, I made it clear I was disdainful of Christensen’s actions, but bothered by the way it all was handled, and I still believe the lag time in the evaluation process that culminated in the coach’s suspension was inexcusable. Just because it went viral on the internet didn’t make it any better or any worse.

The Big East’s flirtation with Air Force, up to this point nothing more than an irritation to the Academy, may become more alluring.

Superintendent Michael Gould is a Mountain West loyalist but is retiring in 2013. With Brigham Young an expected Big East target and Navy set to join the Big East in 2015 and possibly Army later, the Big East makes more sense to the Falcons.

Coach Troy Calhoun told Tim Brando of Yahoo! Sports Radio, “There is no question. We’re a national and even a global institution. If it involved Army and Navy, there’s probably a pretty natural affiliation to include all three. It depends on the direction it takes down the road.

“Time will tell.”

BYU might become more interested after the Big East negotiates its next TV contract. But here’s a scary thought: Can you imagine Air Force basketball on a Louisville-Georgetown road trip?

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun can’t talk about specific recruits prior to classes starting due to Academy rules, but his incoming class of signees will have a significant Texas flair, particularly players from the Houston area.

At least nine players from in and around Houston will call AFA home next season, including the Houston Chronicle’s All-Greater Houston Defensive Player of the Year in 6-2, 215-pound Manvel High defensive end Glynn Cheeks. Cheeks had 19 sacks and 23 tackles for loss to help to lead his team to the 4A state title game.

Meanwhile, linebacker Henderson Watkins racked up 103 tackles, 14 for loss and had three sacks for Montgomery, a playoff team in Class 4A Division I.

Here’s the list of the Houston-area players who will become AFA Falcons next season. These are in addition to 6-3, 285-pound offensive lineman Preston Bass, already identified, out of Mesquite, TX.

Some random observations after looking at the USA Today coaches’ ballots and Harris Poll.

* Do these voters think the term “head to head” is a blocking drill? All three Pac-12 coaches in the USA Today poll — Colorado’s Jon Embree, Cal’s Jeff Tedford and Washington State’s Paul Wulff — picked Stanford fourth ahead of Oregon. In the Harris poll, 64 of the 118 voters picked Stanford over the Ducks. Attention voters: Nov. 12 at Stanford — Oregon 53, Stanford 30. Oregon won the conference. In what way could Stanford possibly be better than Oregon? (I am NOT wearing an Oregon sweatshirt while writing this. Let’s see, it’s a blue University of San Diego.)

* At least they gave some love to a non-AQ school. Forty of the 59 coaches voted TCU at least 16th, the lowest a non-AQ school could finish and be eligible for a BCS bowl. In the Harris poll, 74 did the same and 44 picked TCU outside the top 16. Thanks to a No. 17 computer rating, the Horned Frogs wound up 18th overall in the BCS and were sent to the Pointsettia Bowl where the payout is a watch and a jar of salsa.

* Virginia Tech, the most overrated team all year, received four votes outside the top 16, including Wyoming coach Dave Christensen. Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer didn’t even think his Hokies were as good as everyone else. He voted them 13th. Virginia Tech, which didn’t beat a team that finished in the Top 25, is 11th in the BCS.

* Oklahoma State barely got a whiff from the voters. Alabama received 42 second-place votes from the coaches and Oklahoma State received 17. Air Force’s Troy Calhoun voted it fifth. Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops was true to his word after getting thrashed by the Cowboys Saturday night. He picked them second. LSU coach Les Miles picked them third behind Alabama.

In the Harris, only 34 of 118 picked Oklahoma State second. Eighty-four picked it third or worse including sixth-place votes from George Wine, Bob Wagner and Derrick Mayes.

On Monday, it was obvious to see Colorado State coaches had already gotten to freshman quarterback Garrett Grayson, reminding him that no matter how well he played at TCU -– or how well others said he played –- his team lost. Grayson was much tougher on himself when asked to look back at his 301 yards from scrimmage against the Horned Frogs.

But while Grayson toned down the happy talk, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun had already taken notice of the freshman’s play. Calhoun, who can seemingly recite every player’s stats with razor-sharp accuracy, raved about what he saw.

“I thought he played as well in Fort Worth maybe as well as any quarterback’s played in Fort Worth in the last five years,” said Calhoun, who has never lost to the Rams as AFA head coach.

Air Force Academy — Air Force coach Troy Calhoun is searching for a few good men to play tailback Thursday night for the Falcons against San Diego State.

The depth at the position was depleted with the injury to junior Darius Jones, who suffered a chest injury Saturday against Notre Dame.

The likely candidates to spell starter Asher Clark are junior Cody Getz and sophomore Anthony LaCoste. Getz has carried three times for 37 yards and LaCoste has eight carries for 129 yards. Neither has scored a touchdown.

Calhoun also said that senior tight end Joshua Freeman and senior defensive tackle Ben Kopacka are doubtful because of injuries.

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun has been able to blend the rigors of a service academy and winning football.

Troy Calhoun is the perfect coach for the Air Force Falcons.

He’s been able to blend the rigorous demands of the service academy with the passions of college football.

More than 98 percent of Air Force football team members who participated in a game in either their junior or senior seasons under Calhoun’s guidance have graduated from the United States Air Force Academy.

The sophomore returning starter at quarterback will fill in for his head coach, Steve Fairchild, at the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation’s annual kickoff luncheon June 29.

Schools are represented from Colorado State to CSU-Pueblo. The date of the luncheon typically conflicts with a rare vacation window for the CSU head coach.

Thomas will share the interview area at the Colorado Springs Marriott with three coaches who will be on opposite sidelines: newcomers Jon Embree at Colorado and Earnest Collins Jr. at Northern Colorado as well as familiar face Troy Calhoun at Air Force.

Never mind the usual hype of the year/decade/century/millennium. Saturday’s TCU-Utah game matching Mountain West unbeatens is bigger than that.

ESPN GameDay will be in Salt Lake City, making the big event simply huge — and then some.

It is so big, make that enormous, that after the showdown between TCU and Utah (third and fifth in the BCS standings), these teams will never see each other again in a regular season league contest.

“It’s too bad it’s all going to be over here,” said TCU coach Gary Patterson of Utah’s departure to the Pac-12. “This is going to be a great Saturday it’s what football is all about.”

The implications are mind-boggling. If the winner remains unbeaten and ranks in the final BCS standings ahead of Boise State and if Oregon moves on to the national championship game, then Saturday’s MWC winner stands a good chance of landing in the Rose Bowl. That’s not bad for a league which originally sent its champ to the Liberty Bowl.

If the stars really align and the winner inches up into the BCS top two and the national championship game, someone should have the cardiac unit ready to revive MWC commissioner Craig Thompson.

“You have to win this ball game before you can think about (the BCS implications)” Patterson said. “If you don’t win this ball game, that part’s out.”

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, sticking to his vow of not discussing the PAC-12 move until this season is over, didn’t mention any nostalgia. He just talked about how many players on both sides had been in the series since the 2008 game. Unless one unwinds early on turnovers like the Utes uncharacteristically did a year ago in the 55-28 lost in Fort Worth, Whittingham expects the game to hinge on just a few key plays.

There are two key differences. The game is at Rice-Eccles Stadium. TCU’s starting quarterback Andy Dalton is a seasoned senior. Utah’s Jordan Wynn is a sophomore who had just moved into the starting lineup when the teams met a year ago.

The other coaches stayed away from the handicapping game.

“They’re both very, very good,” said AFA coach Troy Calhoun. “Both have guys on those respective units that are going to play beyond college.”

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.